Minamichita, Aichi Pref., May 9 (Jiji Press)—A Seven-Eleven Japan Co. convenience store in Minamichita, a town on the southern tip of the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture, has installed a lifeboat for use in the event of a tsunami.

This move is part of preparations for a huge tsunami as high as 9.5 meters that is predicted to hit the central Japan town if a powerful temblor occurs in the earthquake-prone Nankai Trough off Japan’s central and southwestern Pacific coast.

Municipal officials estimate that some 1,800 people, or roughly 10% of the town’s population, would be killed in the worst-case scenario, with many older residents, in particular, seen unable to promptly escape to safe places.

The capsule-shaped, 25-seat lifeboat, placed in the store’s parking lot, is 8.7 meters long, 3.5 meters wide and 3.1 meters high. As it does not have an engine, no license is required to use it.

In the event of a tsunami, the lifeboat would be pulled offshore by the drawback and will wait for a rescue while sending out a distress signal. The boat stocks a week’s worth of food and water.